School District of Beloit

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By the Cambio Group: Interrupting Bias: Calling Out vs. In

By Margaret J. Wheatley: Willing to be Disturbed

In July 2021, Beloved Community facilitated and conducted an Equity Audit of the School District of Beloit. The Equity Audit provided comprehensive feedback on the School District of Beloit’s capacity for diversity, equity, and inclusion with all stakeholder groups including staff, students, families, and community partners. The Equity Audit provided 14 standards and 180+ indicators about nearly every facet of our organizational work life. Beloved Community website.

With the results of the Equity Audit, the School District of Beloit implemented a comprehensive, District-wide action plan that includes:

• Ongoing equity walks, coaching and mentoring, and equity team building at all Intermediates and High Schools. 

• The re-engagement and establishment of the E(Q)uality Committee; focusing on norms, purpose, charter, healing as a community, and action planning.

• Leadership team coaching and mentoring on diversity, equity, and inclusion by Rodney Thomas, 

• A commitment to Diversity (honoring and respecting our human differences); Equity (removing barriers and providing support for individuals to achieve their greatest potential); and Inclusion (ensuring each and every one belongs).

Our website, app, social media, advertising, and electronic communications are ADA compliant and mirror our community of students, families, and staff.

We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and intentionally focus our work on ensuring that our language, photos, videos, and written, visual, and interactive content are reflective of our students, families, and staff. We are proud of our District’s diversity; it is the responsibility of communications and marketing to share and celebrate our diversity in all communication channels.

On behalf of the Board of Education and the School District of Beloit, we stand against all forms of systemic and institutional racism. Now more than ever it is necessary for our community’s institutions and organizations to commit to be anti-racist. We are proud of the diversity within the School District of Beloit and we acknowledge the challenges and adversity that so many of our families of color are facing. We are always committed to supporting our students, families, and staff. We are here for you and we are stronger together.

At the School District of Beloit, we believe in Diversity (honoring and respecting our human differences); Equity (removing barriers and providing support for individuals to achieve their greatest potential); and Inclusion (ensuring each and every one belongs).

We believe that an equitable education means providing students with high quality materials and instructional practices that not only meet the needs of individual students, but also support students at needed levels in order to meet academic standards and beyond. 

Over the past two years, SDB has relied on ESSER funding to purchase high quality materials and support instructional practices in the area of literacy and mathematics. Currently, all schools across the system are engaged with American Reading Company (ARC) reading materials in grades K-5. As a part of the implementation plan for ARC materials, building leadership, coaches, and principals received training and an ARC coach to dig deeper into the materials, learn the ARC framework and improve best teaching approaches for reading instruction. For example, the ARC framework designs the classroom to have times for both equitable, explicit, small group instruction of foundational reading skills along with time to read and write with complex text that is at and above grade level. 

Teachers receive ongoing equitable support from ARC and SDB staff to have evidence-based outcomes from our scholars. We have had the opportunity through a grant from the Department of Public Instruction to partner with Instruction Partners. This collaboration has focused on improved instructional practices across secondary schools in both the area of ELA and Math. Equitable teaching and learning requires equitable levels of support of leadership, teachers, and students. We are currently working on pilot materials for math instruction and our 4K classrooms. Throughout our work with Instruction Partners we have identified a math vision that includes building mathematic identities in all students. 

In addition, we have provided training and learning opportunities to develop culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy across content areas. We are committed to continuing to deepen our work in this area in making sure that materials, and learning opportunities  are both responsive to our students and that the students see themselves in the learning environment. This commitment has allowed pockets of innovation to grow across sites, and we are excited to see how this work takes hold throughout the district. 

The E(Q)uality Committee hosted its first meeting on Friday, September 7, 2021. They continued to meet monthly during the 2021-2022 school year. 

With the appointment of a new superintendent this month, we know that it will be their priority to continue the good work of the E(Q)uality committee.

The E(Q)ualtiy Committee meetings were led and facilitated by Rodney Thomas.

The focus of the meetings were to:

• Deepen connections, relationships, alliances, and thought partnerships in service of building community.
  
  
• Re-establish the purpose/vision for the Beloit School District E(Q)uality Committee.
  
  
• Review the District's equity audit to better understand the conditions that contribute(d) to the inequities in our school community.

Committee Members:
Heather Churches
Nicole Davidson
Tulio Duran
Dorothy Harrell
Michelle Hendrix-Nora
Candace Link
Theresa Morateck
Indi Morris-Phillips
Stacy Nemetz
Jennifer Paepke
Cecilia Ramirez
Anya Ramsey-Martinez
Lonnie Randall
Sha-Nita Rhea
Alicia Wash
Melody Wirgau

We provide ongoing professional development for our staff through diverse speakers with an emphasis on biases, microaggressions, and culturally responsive teaching (CRT). 

To date, we have facilitated and coordinated learning opportunities by these speakers:

Amanda Goodenough: The Marco Effect of Microaggressions

Marc Perry: Intersectionality

Jimmy Casas: Culturize: Every Student, Every Day, Whatever it Takes

David O’Connor: Wisconsin’s First Nations - American Indian Studies in Wisconsin

Hector Montenegro: Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Differences

Rodney Thomas: Design Thinking for Equitable Systems

We began our work with NewRoot in June. Based out of Chicago, NewRoot builds deep social-emotional learning skills in educators to transform the ways young people experience schools and the ways schools exist to serve society. NewRoot believes in schools that center equity, love, and connection as the foundation to all educator growth & accountability, student learning and preparation for a successful life beyond high school.

Collaboration with NewRoot to equip and cultivate preparedness and cultural competencies with our staff that nurture tools for impact, centering on belonging and connection and cultivating leadership that drives mindset growth and purpose-driven practices (all equity-rooted). 

They ground themselves in the following pillars:

Relevance + Readiness - Equipping and cultivating preparedness and cultural competencies that nurture tools for impact.

Culture + Climate - Centering belonging and connection in all partner communities to strengthen culture and reaffirm investment in outcomes. 

Leadership - Cultivating leadership that drives mindset growth and purpose-driven practices.

Transition + Change - Developing clear and iterative models for assessing challenges, implementing impactful solutions, elevating for accountability, and providing the fluidity necessary to evolve.

Our work with NewRoot involves face to face training at both the building and district level throughout year one. This work is to develop and engage restorative justice ambassadors or champions within each school. Year two will be the infiltration of schools - working directly with staff on the foundations of restorative justice for school campuses and continuing leadership development. Finally, year three will be all about systems and structures. 

We are very excited about this partnership and the work ahead.

Paris Echoles is a former teacher with the School District of Beloit and a proud graduate of Beloit Memorial High School. Through his own consulting practice, Born Gift3d, Paris delivers empowering mentoring, coaching, consulting, training, and workshops to individuals, groups, and organizations who are striving to transform their patterns, beliefs, behaviors, and outcomes. Access his personal bio here.

During the 2022-2023 school year, Paris will facilitate monthly Affinity Group meetings for School District of Beloit Black educators. These unifying and revolutionary brave spaces, known as Black Educator Networks, offer Black educators an empowering district-sponsored opportunity to collaborate, build authentic communities, advocate, learn and grow, and most importantly, heal.  Additionally, each member of the Black Educator Network of Beloit will have access to one-on-one and/or small group coaching, mentoring, and consulting from Born Gift3d staff.

Rodney Thomas has worked with our District for two years. Rodney works with leaders and institutions across multiple sectors to empower people to change and move forward with new approaches that drive impact through his own consulting practice, CenterForward. Access his professional bio here. 

During this school year, Rodney will lead several sessions with our Board, staff, and students. Here are the topics for the 2022-2023 school year:

Board of Education: Equity Leadership; School Administration: Equity Focused Leadership; School District of Beloit Students: Student Equity Design Teams; New Principals: Equity Support and Development.

Each of our schools develops a School Improvement Plan (SIP) and shares that information on their website. Click on each school's link to access their SIP plan.

Elementary Schools:
Converse
Gaston
Hackett
Merrill
Robinson
Todd 

Middle Schools:
Aldrich
Fruzen

High Schools:
Beloit Learning Academy
Beloit Memorial High School

At the School District of Beloit, we believe in Diversity (honoring and respecting our human differences); Equity (removing barriers and providing support for individuals to achieve their greatest potential); and Inclusion (ensuring each and every one belongs). The 2022-2025 School District of Beloit Strategic Plan reflects our belief in the importance of DEI. 

The School District of Beloit Strategic Plan has five priorities: Equity, Culture and Leadership, Whole Child, Engagement, and Finance.

The First Priority is Equity:  The School District of Beloit believes in creating an environment that honors and respects our human differences, works to ensure everyone is welcomed, and is committed to removing barriers and providing support for individuals to achieve their greatest potential. 

Objective 1 - Addressing Disproportionality: The School District of Beloit will leverage internal and external stakeholders to reveal and address disproportionality across the District.

Objective 2 - Systems and Structures: The School District of Beloit will develop strong systems and structures to ensure there is responsibility and accountability for the equity work within each of the schools and District.

Objective 3 - Data Structures: The School District of Beloit will build comprehensive and robust data structures and protocols to identify barriers to success.